Rainforest

SQUAWK! Deep in the rainforest are some parrots communicating to one another about the food they have just found. Around the rainforest are many more animals within each level: the forest floor, the understory, the canopy, and if you are lucky, you may find an emergent tree. There are many types of rainforest. There is the monsoon rainforest. Unlike tropical rainforests, these have a dry season. They also shed leaves year round. These grow in southeast Asia. Montane rainforests are around the Earth, but only grow in mountainous regions. Temperate rainforests grow in northwestern United States and Australia. Tropical rainforests are around the Equator in areas called the tropics. Very hot tropical rainforests can get up to more than 70 inches of rain each year. Rainforests are said to be the environment with the most types, or species of plants and animals. Many of these animals are waiting to be discovered by humans. Not only these things live here, people do too! There are different tribes of people surviving in the rainforest. How would it be to live in the rainforest?

By Tessa Sagner

Some Animals Are Cute And Cuddly,...

...but that still does not mean those animals don't have disgusting habits. For example, the panda is an animal that many people think is cute, but a mommy panda literally drinks the baby's poop. It might sound gross, but it does this to prevent predators from sniffing the baby out. That is only one example of a weird thing that an animal does. Rabbits do another gross thing. Once a day, they produce cecotropes. These are soft, shiny pellets containing partially digested food. Once the rabbit produces them, it eats them. As they travel through the gut, the grass that rabbits eat is tough to digest, so eating the cecotropes gives them a second chance to break down the grass and absorb nutrients. Then the rabbit produces a second set of droppings that it doesn't eat. Goats have an interesting way of finding a mate. The male rubs his face and beard in his pee. Then he goes up to the female that interests him the most. The female likes it! She pees too and the buck smells it. If he likes it, he curls up his upper lip and they are a couple. Okay, you want slime now? The hagfish is a funny looking fish. If it sees a predator, it pours mucus out of its body. This clogs the predator's gills. As it struggles to get away, the hagfish has time to escape. Although these habits seem gross to you, they are very important to the animals' survival. That is why you should never make fun of it. For example, is the goat doesn't do what it does, it won't be able to reproduce and pass on its genus.

By Tessa Sagner

Environments

Swish! The ocean's waves tumble on to a beach. Farther out the wind blows the savannah grass to the east. In a dense rainforest nearby the stillness is broken by the screeches of monkeys and the squawks of birds. Around the world there are many different types of environments that suit animals in that area. For example, the grassland is for the zebra because it finds its food there. Some environments are the ocean, the grassland, the rainforest, the forest, freshwaters, prairies, savannas, deserts, and beaches. Some of these places are very colorful, like the rainforest. Others are very bare for miles, like the desert. The ocean has many lairs to it, as well as the rainforest. The bottom part of the rainforest is the forest floor. This lair contains many mammals like the tapir. It also has jaguars on the floor as well in the understory. The understory has not very many animals, but it can contain snakes and bugs. All the other lairs have many bugs in them. Next is the canopy, which has sunlight unlike the lairs before it. This lair has monkeys and birds. But in every area of rainforest, you have a chance of finding an emergent tree. These trees are very tall and also have birds and monkeys. The lairs of the ocean are the splash zone, the sunlight zone, the twilight zone, the dark zone, and the hydrothermal vents. The deepest point in any of the oceans is the Marianas Trench. How would it be to live down there?

By Tessa Sagner

Classification

Classification is easier than it is if you think of it as an upside down pyramid. Animals are grouped into categories depending on their similarities. The largest group is a kingdom, which would contain all of the animals in the Earth. Next is a phylum, which in this case, would be chordata. These are vertebrates. There are many others like echodermata, arthropoda, and many others. The next group would be class, which for now is mammalia. There are many others, again. Next is order, which in this case is carnivora. There are more. Next is family which now is felidae. Next is genus. For this particular animal, it is panthera. Last is species, which is the smallest group and is now leo. This animal is the lion. Its scientific name is panthera leo, which was part of the classification.

By Tessa Sagner

The Parrot Family

Crack! A parrot cracks a large piece of fruit for its breakfast. Its strong beak can crack open tough fruits that it eats. Unlike other birds, parrots have a funny shape for their bill. Its top is like the top quarter of a circle. the bottom has a flat top and a long, curvy bottom half. This beak is made especially for cracking fruits that it eats. Parrots live mostly in rainforests and jungles. They live high in the canopy of the rainforest and the emergent trees. To grasp hold of branches, they have 2 toes pointing forward and 2 backwards. Parrots are known for being colorful birds that can sometimes talk. Parrots are able to talk because they are the only birds with tongues. Besides parrots there are lorikeets, cockatoos, cockatiels, macaws, and many more. They like to squawk and screech. Parrots are becoming endangered and disappearing because of habitat loss and people are selling rare ones for pets which in some places is not legal for ones that will become extinct soon. Parrots eat seeds, fruit, and other plants that grow in the rainforest. Parrots live in Africa, South America, and Asia. If the rainforests in those continents are cut down, there will be no wonderful parrots for us look at and enjoy. People must learn to take good care of our rainforest to save these wonderful animals.

By Tessa Sagner

Echidnas

RRRRR! A Tasmanian devil is stalking an echidna. When it reaches out to scratch, it gets something it didn't expect. A sharp, prickly spine is caught in the paw of the Tasmanian devil. It slowly limps away, surprised by the secret weapon of the echidna. Echidnas are also called Australian spiny anteaters because of their long spines and long snout like an anteater's. They explore termite mounds and when it's hungry, it digs in the round for termites to eat. It is okay if an echidna can't find food because they can go without food for a whole month! Echidnas are solitary animals and only get together when mating. Mating is a whole new story. Before mating, a  female echidna develops a flap of skin like a kangaroo's pouch. It takes a couple weeks  but eventually a 1 inch egg is laid. Echidnas are one of the only mammals that lay eggs. The female rolls up in a special way so the eggs fall into the pouch. After 10 or 11 days the eggs hatch. To break out of their shell, newborn echidnas have a special tooth called an egg tooth. After breaking out of the egg, soon the egg tooth falls out. After the baby hatches it stays in the pouch for almost 2 months. At this stage they nurse the mother from nice milk that flows through Mommy echidna's skin. After 2 more months the echidna is fully developed. Although it is a normal baby, it is only 6 to 8 inches. Now it is ready to leave Mommy's pouch. But Mommy still nurses it for about 4 to 5 months when baby stays close to her side. But when echidnas are solitary they sleep during the day in burrows or logs under dense bushes. Echidnas are definitely on the list of my top ten strangest animals. What do you think it would be like to have 2 inch long quills along your back?

By Tessa Sagner

Giraffe

Whew! It's blazing hot in the African savannah and a herd of giraffes is traveling to the water hole. After a mother gets a drink of her own, she nurses a month old calf. Within minutes of being born, a giraffe can stand up on spindly legs and soon walk. Giraffes are known for being incredibly tall with spots all over them. A giraffe's average height is about 16 feet but they can be 18 feet tall! A baby giraffe is about 6 feet tall. Giraffes are herbivores and eat leaves on trees. A giraffe is lucky if it finds a large tree because there are not many trees in the savannah in which they live in. Giraffes don't have a lot of predators because their height is so tall, but occasionally lions attack shorter young giraffes. There are many types of giraffes that live throughout Africa. Depending on the type of giraffe, giraffes have different kinds of spots. Although giraffes all have brown splotches, no two giraffes spots are exactly the same. Giraffes are very well known animals and gaze down on the enormous savannah and all the animals in it. Giraffes are great animals of the savannah and should never be harmed or hunted because of their beauty.

By Tessa Sagner

Exoskeleton

Imagine you are a little blue starfish. There are many dangers throughout the ocean in which you live. To prevent being harmed, a starfish has a tough outer covering called an exoskeleton. An exoskeleton replaces an internal skeleton. Not just starfish have an exoskeleton. Many invertebrates have exoskeletons too. Exoskeletons protect the owner because they can be to hard for a predator like a bird to break. But a spider can break the exoskeleton and suck up the soft parts of the prey. But some invertebrates don't have an exoskeleton. Squids don't meet animals powerful enough to harm them that often so they don't have an exoskeleton. Only invertebrates can have an exoskeleton because vertebrates already have an internal skeleton. What do you think it would be like to have an exoskeleton?

                                             By Tessa Sagner

Crocodiles

A couple of wildebeest are heading to the water hole for a drink. The first bends down low to sip but it made a big mistake! SPLASH! A huge crocodile ruins the stillness around the water hole. It slashes its jaws at the surprised herd. It drags in a teenage wildebeest. The others escape. Crocodiles are very fierce hunters being able to catch adult wildebeest. This one has only a teenager but next hunt it should be much more successful. If a crocodile does catch an adult it could be so meaty that the crocodile might not have to eat for a month! Crocodiles are huge predators and sometimes they can kill people. They are large reptiles armored in thick, tough scales. They have incredibly massive jaws to lock prey in. After it finds a antelope, a wildebeest, or a zebra, it waits under the water with only its eyes and nostrils sticking above the water. It hides its eyes because they are on the side of the head. The prey should not see the "log" as a crocodile. and go on with drinking. But the prey made a mistake! The crocodile lunges at the prey and turns it underwater. As soon as the prey drowns, the crocodile eats the prey. Although it has many teeth it cannot chew. Instead it uses teeth to tear meat into bite-sized chunks. Then it swallows the chunks whole. Crocodiles don't just live in Africa. They live around the earth in jungles and forests.

By Tessa Sagner

Elephants

Out on the far savannah, bare of many trees, is a herd of lots of African elephants. This massive, well loved creature is know for its extremely long trunk which it uses to suck up water. It also uses its trunk to grab hold of branches that it eats as well clean itself sometimes. To do this it sucks up a lot of water and sprays it all over itself like a shower. Under that enormous trunk are two long tusks which it uses to fight other predators. Although elephants are herbivores they are very dangerous to other animals like leopards and lions. They eat grasses and branches around the savannah or forest in which they live in. Male elephants love to show off their strength by fighting for a mate. They latch tusks and whoever limps away first will not get the female to breed with. When it is time to give birth the female elephant has about one calf at a time. The elephant is the second longest living mammal besides humans. Some elephants can be sixty years old! Elephants are also known for being massive because they weigh about six tons! They are the largest living animal on land. That does not include the blue whale. Even being six tons still won't mean an elephant would not look like a baby compared to a dinosaur! The African elephant is larger than the Indian elephant which has smaller ears and a more boxy body shape.

Jellyfish

Swish! A little bit of a jellyfish is washed from the twilight zone to the splash zone. Deep down in the sea are a lot more jellyfish friends. They are shaped liked an umbrella with a floppy top with underneath a lot of poisonous stinging tentacles hanging under the umbrella like bells.  A jellyfish cannot swim and control itself because that floppy top does not have a brain! But that still does not mean a jellyfish won't need to eat. It hovers above its  prey and prey will get caught in the stinging tentacles and die. A jellyfish moves around by the waves and current. The most dangerous jellyfish is the box jellyfish. It can kill many adults in less than 4 minutes! As well as being extremely dangerous, the box jellyfish is longer than an average adult man! But don't worry! You would not normally see box jellyfish in the the wild since they live in deeper zones of the ocean. I think jellyfish are truly amazing creatures, and the oceans would seem so empty without them.

By Tessa Sagner

Lions

Look how gorgeous this lion is, his mane swaying in the breeze. Lions weigh about 500 pounds and can grow six feet long! Unlike other wildcats, which are solitary animals, lions live in large family groups called prides with only one adult male and many females. Although females do all the hunting, males get to eat as much as they want. After that, females get their share. But cubs also share with the female lions, too. Lions live on the very hot African savannah, usually under a shady tree.When females are hunting, they bend down low so that prey such as antelope, zebras, even ostriches can't see them!

By Tessa Sagner

Spiny Bellied Orb Weavers

Look! This is a spiny bellied orb weaver. At first they seem like normal spiders in the front, but their abdomen, whoa! First of all, it has a strange design, but why the spikes? The spikes make them look harder for predators to eat. A bird, for example, would not be able to swallow the creature, not even break it with its beak! If I were a bird, I would not want to have a spiny bellied orb weaver for my breakfast!

By Tessa Sagner